According to the spokesperson of a German court which is investigating the kidnapping of businessman Trinh Xuan Thanh, Slovakia offered the Vietnamese a direct flight to Hanoi, which was refused by the Asian delegation.
The judges who are investigating the case believe that the Ministry of Interior in Slovakia offered the diplomats a direct flight to Hanoi and to Moscow as well, but the Vietnamese officials were not called for the longer Vietnamese trip, said Lisa Jani.
The German police believes that arranging a direct flight to Vietnam would require longer preparations, securing the necessary permissions could take two days, but even a flight to Moscow cannot be arranged in an hour. According to media sources the travel services were paid by the Slovak side as a friendly gesture.
The officials of the Slovak ministry are denying the offer of the Hanoi flight, while Robert Kaliňák the former Minister of Interior declined to answer journalists’ questions. Despite the willingness of Slovak authorities to cooperate with the Vietnamese it is possible that the government didn’t know about the real purpose of the visit and the flight, which was the kidnapping of Trinh Xuan Tranh.
